Kentucky's Unique Pollination Fest Returns

This weekend is absolutely packed with great events, ranging from Pride to the Northside Music Festival. But if you're up for a relaxing and pastoral change of pace, it may be worth checking out the second annual Pollination Festival at Treasure Lake in Petersburg, KY. Just a half hour from downtown, the event combines regional and national music acts with a staggering selection of workshops and classes, ranging from yoga to fermentation.

I spoke with Adam Stone, one of the festival's organizers, following his weekly gig running trivia at Northside Tavern. "After the success of last year's inaugural event, we have stepped into the second round with ambitious feet, doubling our programming and pulling together a lineup of music and workshops that we couldn't be more excited about. With huge support from so many people in our community, it is clear that this is a festival that folks in the Tristate and beyond are thirsty for."

Friday night headliners Maiden Radio hail from just down the river in Louisville, a veritable singer-songwriter supergroup consisting of Cheyenne Mize, Joan Shelley, and Julia Purcell. Their third LP, Wolvering, was birthed in a January ice storm and released last week on OK Recordings. The results are striking, a beautiful and intimate collection of songs. The festival's first day also includes composer and pianist extraordinaire Dan Dorff Jr., area dub crew Newport Secret Six, Happy Maladies side project Whitfield Crocker, and more. The first day's workshops include a foraging walk and a class on urban gardening.

The Saturday schedule is even more packed, with a whopping fifteen classes and workshops and a full slate of music. Festival headliners David Wax Museum hold down the top slot with their infectious Mexo-Americana blend, and there's a late night set from eleven-strong Nashville crew Kansas Bible Company, responsible for multiple nights of insanity at MOTR Pub over the last few years. Local heroes Molly Sullivan and Jeremy Pinnell both have early evening slots, and soulful Michigan rockers The Go Rounds will play right at sunset on the Main Stage. The event closes down on Sunday with one last round of classes (be sure to rise early for the Treasure Lake ecology walk).

This is a fairly unique festival, joining music and education at a moderate, accessible scale. "It's sure to be not only an incredibly enjoyable weekend," says Stone, "but also one that you can walk away from having gained new knowledge, skills, and connections that push toward a more sustainable lifestyle within the individual as well as within the heart of our local community."